Samuel Rudolph Insanally (Guyana)

Elected President of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly

Samuel Rudolph Insanally, who was elected as President of the forty-eighth regular session of the General Assembly, has served as Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations since 1987.

The new Assembly President has had an extensive diplomatic career, spanning 27 years, during which time he has contributed to the increased participation of his country in various regional and international forums.

As Guyana's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Insanally led his country's delegation to the General Assembly on two occasions and also functioned as a Vice-President of the Assembly. He was Vice-President of the Council for Namibia and a Vice-President of the special session of the General Assembly devoted to international economic cooperation, in particular to the revitalization of economic growth and development in the developing countries, held in April 1990. He has also attended high-level meetings of other international organizations, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and participated in the North-South Summit held in Cancun, Mexico in 1981.

From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Insanally was head of the Political Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana. During that time, he was also High Commissioner to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean; Ambassador (non-resident) to Colombia; and member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of International Relations of the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Insanally was Permanent Representative of Guyana to the European Economic Community from 1970 to 1981 and, concurrently, Ambassador to Belgium and, on a non-resident basis, to Sweden, Norway and Austria. During that time, he played a prominent role in the negotiation of the second Lomé African-Caribbean Pacific (ACP)-EEC Convention; and chaired the sugar and trade sub-committees. He was Special Rapporteur of the Joint ACP-EEC Assembly on the implementation of the Lomé Convention.

From 1972 to 1978, Mr. Insanally served as Ambassador to Venezuela with concurrent accreditation to Peru and Ecuador. During that period, he participated in the work of various regional organizations such an the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC), and the Latin American Economic System (SELA). As Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations in 1972, he was active in the negotiation of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade and during 1970 was Chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of Guyana to Venezuela. From 1966 to 1969, he served as Counsellor at his country's Embassy to the United States.

Mr. Insanally has written and lectured widely on the subject of diplomacy and international relations. In recognition of his long and distinguished service to his country, he was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement in 1986 and the Cacique Crown of Honour in 1980. He also holds the Order of the Liberator (Gran Cordon) conferred on him by the Government of Venezuela in 1973.

Prior to entering the diplomatic service, Mr. insanally held teaching positions in modern languages from 1959 to 1966 at Kingston and Jamaica Colleges, Jamaica; Queen's College, Guyana; and at the University of Guyana. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern languages from the College of the Went Indies - London University, and undertook post-graduate work in modern languages and international relations at the University of Paris, France and the University of Brussels, Belgium.

Mr. Insanally was born on 23 June 1936 in Georgetown, Guyana. He is single.